02/08/18: ESL set to roll out Facebook perks

It’s Thursday February 8, 2018 and this is your weekly early morning eSports & Gaming briefing.

After receiving some colorful feedback following the debut of ESL’s partnership with Facebook for ESL One Genting, the company laid out the goals – both short and long-term – that audiences could look forward to experiencing as a result of the partnership, beginning with the ESL CS:GO Pro League kick off next week. Viewers can expect to see all live broadcasts stream in 1080p & 60 FPS, while fans will be able to toggle ‘quiet mode’ during live streams to mute reactions. In addition, ESL stated that “Facebook has made good progress on addressing stability issues and reducing stall rates” while the partnership would also allow for teams to have new cross-posting & sharing features which allow everyone involved in Pro League (ESL, teams and players) to more easily share streams & highlights on their pages. Moving forward, other features rolling out in the coming weeks and months would include: clipping, full mobile support and “more ways to discover esports.”

“We’re aware that the platform still has a lot of room for improvement and are actively working with the community to get it where it needs to be. As such we encourage you to continue letting us know how we can improve,” the company posted on Reddit.

Meanwhile, season seven of the league opens on Feb. 13, with 10 weeks of online play to be concluded in the season finals taking place in May on a quest for a $1,000,000 prize pool, as well as a win counting towards the Intel Grand Slam. The North American broadcast team will see Tres “Stunna” Saranthus serve as desk host, joined by experts Jacob “Pimp” Winneche and Halvor “Vendetta” Gulestol. Casting duties will see Harry Russell and Jason “Moses” O’Toole on the microphone.

COMPETITION and VENUES

Evo 2018 is locked and loaded, with the annual event unveiling its eight titles for this year’s extravaganza, set to take place from Aug. 3-5 from Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. Included this time around will be the return of favorites that include Street Fighter 5, Tekken 7 and Super Smash Bros. Melee and Super Smash Bros. for Wii U along with the return of Injustice 2. New this year will be BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle and Dragon Ball FighterZ along with Guilty Gear Xrd Rev 2.

Speaking of fighting titles, Capcom locked in the first two premier events of this year’s Pro Tour; Final Round and NorCal Regionals will kick off the new season of the Capcom Pro Tour 2018. Final Round 2018 will span from March 16-18 at the Georgia International Convention Center in Atlanta, while the NorCal Regionals 2018 will serve as the second premier event, taking place from March 30-April 1 in Sacramento.

The first-ever Stage Finals of the Overwatch League are set for Saturday, with the top three teams in standings at the end of regular stage play battling for a share of a $125,000 bonus with the semi-finals and finals slated as two additional matches on top of the regularly scheduled matches on Feb. 10. Each game is streamed online at Twitch.tv/OverwatchLeague, MLG.com and OverwatchLeague.com, and on both the MLG and Overwatch League apps. Malik Forte and Alex Mendez will join the talent roster on the English broadcast this week.

Meanwhile, Blizzard’s broadcast lineup for Heroes of the Dorm 2018 is confirmed, as Halorin, InVerum, and TheSource tapped to return to cast every round of the tournament including the Heroic Four. This year’s talent lineup will also feature a rotation of special guests, beginning with former Heroes of the Storm pro Dunktrain. More than 320 collegiate Heroes of the Storm Teams are locked in for the initial phase of Heroes of the Dorm that’ll see teams across the country competing in regional group stages.

Riot Games is bringing the North American League of Legends Championship Series Spring Finals to Miami, with the event taking place at The Fillmore Miami Beach at the Jackie Gleason Theater on April 7-8, according to ESPN. The 2,713-seat venue would mark the second time Riot has hosted an event in a theater.

The NBA 2K League announced that 72,000 players advanced to the NBA 2K League Combine, the next stage of qualifying for the league. Players had to win 50 games in NBA 2K18’s Pro-Am mode during the month of January with the combine running through Feb. 21 where players need to complete 40 games in one position during 12 pre-set time windows in order to identify the top 102 players who will make the league.

PGL Studios in Bucharest is lining up the PUBG Spring Invitational in partnership with Imba TV, for a four-day battle royale where 16 teams from across the world will face off for $100.000 prize pool. Eleven of the 16 teams taking part will receive automatic bids for the competition, while the remaining teams will fight for placement in online qualifiers in Europe, North and South America.

Tencent is propping Arena of Valor for mobile esports success, announcing a series of tournaments titled the Arena of Valor World Cup and dangling a prize pool that tops $500,000. The event will launch in July.

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Blackhawk Resource Corp. is adding UMG Media Corp. under its umbrella, announcing plans to acquire all of the issued and outstanding common shares of UMG, and providing a total valuation of $31.43 million to the company. UMG entered the esports industry in 2016 with the acquisition of UMG Events Live and offers tournaments, online contests and the creation/distribution of original content in the space.

INSIGHTS

Last weekend, the NA LCS overlapped with Super Bowl LII and League of Legends fans on Twitch chatted about the big game. Here are a few fun facts: NFL focused chat spiked in the final moments of Super Bowl LII on the platform with 1,041 mentions of the teams between 10p- 10:30p; the Eagles received 21% more mentions than the Patriots; but Tom Brady was mentioned 25 times more than Nick Foles.

Coca-Cola announced that its eCOPA Coca-Cola would serve as a FIFA 18 Global Series qualifier tournament as part of “The Road to the FIFA eWorld Cup 2018.” Esports Insider writes that the event will take place in August. “We have always looked to creating meaningful connections with our consumers around their passions,” said Alban Dechelotte, Coca-Cola’s senior entertainment marketing manager. “Football and gaming are two passions for which Coca-Cola has been uplifting fans’ experiences for many years. Football is part of the Coke’s DNA – part of how we connect with people.”

HyperX laid claim as the official peripherals sponsor of PGL PUBG Spring Invitational, held from March 22-25 held at PGL Studios in Bucharest. “We are very excited about the PGL PUBG Spring Invitational, as this will be our first foray into the PUBG competitive scene,” said Silviu Stroie, CEO, PGL. “When taking on this kind of challenge, success depends on the partnerships you cultivate. HyperX has proven to not only be a reliable friend, but a highly effective partner that shares our vision. We look forward to working with HyperX again and together taking PUBG production to the next level.”

Razer captured in a sponsorship of Overwatch League team the Seoul Dynasty as well as a two-year partnership with KSV eSports. The deal will see Seoul Dynasty’s players using Razer’s esports grade peripherals in all their 2018 training and tournament activities. As part of the sponsorship deal, Razer will supply mice, keyboards, headsets and surfaces to both KSV eSports and Seoul Dynasty teams. “Helping ambitious organizations and players reach the next level has been a matter of the heart for Razer since the very early days of professional esports,” said Min-Liang Tan, Razer co-founder and CEO. “The passion and dedication to building a long-term, winning organization of players makes a two-year deal with KSV eSports and Seoul Dynasty an easy decision.”

Corsair locked in a sponsorship with BIG, an esports organization based in Berlin and will now be outfitting BIG with performance gaming keyboards, mice, and mouse pads to continue their ascension. “Millions of dedicated gamers worldwide compete to get better every day, yet only a few manage to reach the top to play against the best teams and players in the world,” said Daniel Finkler, CEO of BIG. “Ensuring you have the right equipment to compete is essential to keep up with the best. With CORSAIR on our side, we’ve equipped our team with the fastest performance gaming peripherals to give us the edge, and are proud to represent CORSAIR with our professional esports athletes.”

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Twitch opened the doors to its success in 2017 courtesy of a digital comic, noting that the year saw Twitch viewers consume 355 billion minutes of content on the platform, along with the creation of 124 million clips. That marks a rise of 63 billion minutes over 2016, notching over 15 million unique daily viewers. The most popular games last year: PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, Fortnite, Destiny 2, FIFA 18, For Honor, Call of Duty: WW2, Friday the 13th, Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Resident Evil: Biohazard, and Gwent: The Witcher Card Game.

Meanwhile, Twitch confirmed that that return of Dr DisRespect to the streaming platform scored a peak concurrent viewership record for an individual streamer, courtesy of the more than 388,000 who tuned in to watch. That breaks the previous best set by the return of Tyler1 to the platform in January.

After converting from a news site to a tournament platform, PvP Live announced that it would be shutting down, ending operations earlier this week. Users with money remaining in their accounts now have 180 days to withdraw their funds.

Reuters is launching a new wire service devoted to coverage of esports, available now to Reuters News Agency customers. The Reuters Esports Wire features global coverage of the competitive gaming industry, including breaking news, player acquisitions, sponsorship deals and coverage of the key esports tournaments with content provided through a partnership with sports text provider Field Level Media. ”Esports has grown increasingly popular around the world and demand for coverage of the sport has never been stronger,” said Josh Duboff, Reuters Senior Product Manager, Sports & Entertainment Verticals. “This offers us a unique opportunity to be at the forefront of offering coverage of the sport to global media customers as they see a rising interest in the competitive gaming industry from their audiences.”

Mobile esports player Skillz announced its 2017 champions, with the top 10 rankings anchored by women who accounted for 70% of the list. The top mobile athlete claimed tournament prizes equating to over $420,000 in 2017, placing her in the top 25 highest-earning eSports athletes in the world.

FOX Sports is diving into esports in Australia, inking a deal to carry live coverage of Football Federation Australia’s new esports league, according to multiple local reports. Focused on EA Sports FIFA 18, the FFA’s e-League (their term, not mine) will feature a total of 20 competitors representing all 10 A-League clubs.

TEAMS/PLAYERS

The victory by rising star Sasha “Scarlett” Hostyn at IEM PyeongChang over Kim “sOs” Yoo Jin, made history on multiple levels, including her very first win at a premier off-line StarCraft II tournament and the first time a female player has won a premier StarCraft II championship. In addition, the win was the first final to see sOs lose a non-Korean player and Scarlett become only the second foreigner in StarCraft II history to win a premier tournament on Korean soil. sOs currently tops the highest earnings chart for the sport at $523,519, with Scarlett now clocking in with $251,943 in career winnings with the IEM prize, per esportsearnings.com.

Speaking of firsts, ESPN reports that Kim “Geguri” Se-yeon will be joining Overwatch League as a member of the Shanghai Dragons along with Lee “Fearless” Eui-Seok, and Cheon “Ado” Ki-hyun. The move and addition of Se-yeon would mark the first female player to join the league.

French esports organization Team Vitality reeled in more than $3 million in a round of investment with an eye to broaden its reach into other competitive games. “Vitality’s ambition is to become an undisputed European leader whose teams participate in all the major professional esports leagues,” said team CEO, Nicolas Maurer, with funding from investment companies like Korelya Capital, Kima Ventures, and H26.

Team Dignitas is bringing a new Counter-Strike: Global Offensive squad aboard, with new players that include Matthew “mCe” Elmore, Team Captain Logan “Voltage” Long, Jack “xCeeD” Holiman, Michael “Grim” Wince and Mitch “mitch” Semago. The team will make its first appearance under the Team Dignitas banner on Feb. 13, coinciding with the start of the ESL Pro League Season 7.

European esports heavyweight Fnatic named Nick Fry, former CEO of the Mercedes AMG Formula One Team, as the team’s Head of Commercial Strategy. He will now help the brand hit its next stage of growth and expand its global footprint where Fnatic will look to “innovate its partnership proposition for brands”

INDUSTRY

E3 is tweaking its formula for an industry/player balance, announcing that this year’s event – running June 12-14 at the Los Angeles Convention Center – will feature extended show hours to accommodate all attendees, “providing industry and media exclusive time on the show floor without cutting short gamers’ opportunities to play the most anticipated games of the year.” Additionally, E3 Coliseum will return to LA Live with producer Geoff Keighley. Hours will see industry and media able to attend from 11a-7p on June 12, 9a-7p on June 13 and 9a-6p on June 14. Gamers, meanwhile, will be allowed in a 2p on the first day, noon on the second and 9a on the third.

Google is reportedly eyeballing the Holy Grail of on-demand game streaming. The Information reports that the company is working on a subscription-based game streaming service developed under the codename Yeti.

Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and DC Entertainment unveiled the first ever gameplay trailer for the newest, addition to the Injustice2 roster in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles with all four characters set to be offered on Feb. 13.

Psyonix and Zag Toys are teaming up for a new toy line, Rocket League ‘Light-Up Clip-Ons.’ Based on in-game Battle Cars, the new produce feature illuminating, colored boosts and a detachable clip to hang them on a bag, priced at $5.99 MSRP. Select cars will include a code that can be redeemed in-game for a new Customization Item, the ‘Z-Plate’ Wheel.

ROSTER MOVES

GameStop named a new CEO, t announcing the appointment for company executive vice president and president of international business Michael K. Mauler to the role, where he will also join GameStop’s board of directors. “On behalf of GameStop’s Board of Directors, I am pleased to announce Mike Mauler as our new CEO,” said GameStop executive chairman Dan DeMatteo. “Mike has been part of the GameStop senior leadership team for many years, where he has played an integral role in creating and driving the blueprint of our diversification strategy, successfully managing our international operations, and growing our core business segments. We are fortunate to have such an accomplished leader, who has a thorough understanding of our operations, business strategy and our stakeholders, and is committed to strengthening our results and driving our company forward.”

ESL UK announced the appointment of Heather “Naysayerz” Dower to marketing and communications manager for the company. Dower will oversee the promotion for ESL tournaments and initiatives in the UK, including the ESL Premiership, and support UK talent at international events such as IEM Katowice.

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